Statement of:

 Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

Representative, First District of Albay and
President, Liberal Party of the Philippines

It must be conceded that the overall performance of a new President cannot be adequately measured in his first 100 days. The period is too short for a keen appreciation, a veritable critical assessment, and a thorough validation.

But the President’s first 100 days in office should impress and not depress the people. They should give the people a peek into the best of what to expect in the next six years.

Indeed, 100 days are long enough to see the prospects of how a new leadership would confront and solve national problems, particularly on the economy.

Economic woes continue to batter the country with escalating ferocity since President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s ascendancy. It appears that solutions are wanting even as the problems worsen. There are glaring and enormous problems demanding correct and immediate solutions, or at least the softening of the adverse impact on the people. The following figures do not lie:

1. Rising Inflation – a recent Pulse Asia survey reveals that inflation, not Covid-19, to be the number one concern of Filipinos. They are concerned that they need more money to be able to purchase a given volume of goods and services. Alternatively, they have to make do with less goods and services for a given amount of money.

   President Marcos, Jr. has failed to ward off the ill-effects of an escalating inflation rate which adversely impact on the prices of basic food items and services.

   The latest report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is that the headline inflation hit 6.9% in September, from 6.1% in June, while the food inflation climbed 7.7% nationwide. Regional inflation reached double digits like 10.4% in Central Visayas, 10.5% in Zamboanga Peninsula, and 10.8% in Davao.

2. Rising Unemployment – Inflation is compounded by rising unemployment. When workers are unemployed, they lose their purchasing power. The PSA reports that the jobless rate in August was 5.3% up from 5.2% rate in July. It is reported that the “proportion of jobless Filipinos rose in August while boiling inflation continues to smash the incomes of both households and business.” The PSA also revealed that there were 7.30-M Filipinos who were underemployed in August, higher than 6.54-M recorded in July. This translates to an underemployment rate of 14.7% in August, higher than the 13.8% in July.

3. Escalating Prices of Basic Goods and Services – Due to inflation and meager production, the price of basic commodities and services have also increased, more importantly rice.

   The President expectedly failed to redeem his campaign promise to reduce the price of rice to P20/kilo, a grim gimmick which credulous voters believed. The current retail price of ordinary rice is 40/kilo. The price will continue to increase due to the high cost of fertilizers and other inputs and shortfall in production.

   It is estimated that the country’s rice consumption will reach 15.6 million MT in 2023 but it is projected that milled rice production will only be 11.975 million MT up to June 2023 or a negative differential of 3.625 million MT, which the country needs to import.

4. Continuing Depreciation of the Peso – The Philippine Peso has been depreciating to record lows relative to the US Dollar. It had already reached P59.18 to the US Dollar on September 27, 2022, and is projected to further depreciate.

   The peso depreciation has various negative economic effects: (a) it exacerbates the rising inflation rate because the country imports more than it exports, and more dollars are needed for imports even as it aggravates the cost of local production which uses imported items and materials, thus elevating the price of basic commodities; (b) debt service of international loans becomes more expensive because the government needs more pesos to buy the dollars for payment; and (c) it depletes the country’s Gross International Reserves (GIR)which decreases monthly from $107.8-B in February to $97.4-B in August due to our trade deficit of $5.927-B as of the latest count.

   The positive effect of depreciation is the higher peso value of OFW remittance. This is, however, offset by the increasing inflation where OFW beneficiaries need more pesos to buy a lesser volume of goods and services.

   The increase in customs duties because of the higher volume of importation is also offset by the decrease in imports, while the positive effect on the income of exporters is negated by other countries’ reducing their imports from the Philippines, like the mounting cancellation on orders of Philippine-made furniture products.

The sound byte that there will be “not one more hungry Filipino” will not mitigate or solve the nation’s economic woes.

While these economic problems are mainly caused by external factors, it does not mean that the national leadership should be destitute of solutions to lessen the adverse consequences on Filipinos.

The President may have appointed “the best and the brightest” to compose his economic team. However, the well-applauded team has not delivered the expected inputs of their mettle and expertise. In fact, with the exception of Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, no one else from the economic team has hurdled the Commission on Appointments.